Heartless

47

We sat around the fire for a little while, goofing off. "Are we ready to do this cleanse?" Sam said and I took a deep breath as Colby grabbed my hand reassuringly.

"Alright so I have these papers, we are going to write the names of the spirits we think are haunting us, obviously Lucy and the cowboy are one. Any others?" Sam says looking around.

"What about the shadow man?" Colby said as Corey glares at him, "why would you bring that up dude?" Corey said throwing his free hand up. "Because he could be haunting you bro." Colby said honestly. They argued for a second and then everyone explained their personal items that they were burning.

Jake brought a shrek VHS, Sam brought the hotel key from their first haunted hotel video, Colby brought a cardboard cutout of his face, and Corey brought a Sam and Colby XPLR sticker. I only had the lollipops, so I decided I would throw one of those in. "Alright on the count of three everyone throw their items in." Sam said as we all prepared to throw the items in.
"3....2...1..." he said and we all threw them in and watched them burn for a second.

After a few second of us watching, Colby gasped and flew out of his seat backwards. His voice was terrified, "Sam!! I just-" he stopped to catch his breath as he stood up. I had never seen him so shaken up. "There was something over there! I just saw a shadow." He said as the boys frantically got up. I stood with my hands over my mouth, they were shaking violently. "We have to go find it! Come on!" Colby said and started to run towards where he saw the shadow, "Colby wait!" I yelled. Even I could hear the fear in my voice as he turned to me with a broken expression. "We have to go find it, someone could be messing with us!" He was frantic. "Calm down Colby!" Sam said as Colby turned to run into the forest again. I burst into full on tears as Jake and Sam followed him. "Corey! Stay here with Cora!" Sam yelled as he ran into the forest after Colby. Then they were gone. I sobbed gently as I fell to my knees looking out into the darkness.

"Hey don't cry." Corey said and came up to me letting me cry into his shoulder. "I want to go home" I said as I cried. "I know...I do too." He said as we waited for them to return to the camp.

We heard screaming a couple minutes later as Sam and Jake emerged back into view. "We saw something!! Did you hear that scream?" Sam yelled, trying to catch his breath. I shook my head "what scream?! Where's Colby?!" I yelled and looked passed them, waiting for him to come through the trees. "What?! He's not with you guys??" Sam said looking around frantically, "no!! He was with you guys!!" Corey said as I sobbed. "Colby!!!!" I yelled out, my voice cracking. I tried to run into the woods to find him but Sam and Jake held me back, "don't go alone! Calm down Cora." Sam said as I collapsed into their arms. "Colby!" I cried out again.

"I can't believe you lost Colby!" Corey yelled to Sam and Jake. "We thought he was right behind us...he kept running! We- we saw this weird baby thing hanging from a tree..and he kept running." Sam said. He looked like he was going to break down at any minute. "We have to go find him!" I said trying to get up again. Jake and Sam held me down. "Someone has to stay here in case he comes back. He would kill us if we let you go into those woods." I shook my head, "you can't leave me here alone" I cried out looking around. "Corey will stay here with you, we are going to walk down the path and find him okay?" Sam said and helped me stand up. I nodded quickly and they bolted off into the woods.

Corey led me to the chairs and we sat down. I couldn't stop crying as I frantically searched the perimeter of the camp site. "What if he's gone..what if someone is out there..what if they kill him" I cried and Corey shook his head, "he's gonna come back, he knows what he's doing." He said rubbing my back. His voice was shaking with fear. I could tell he was trying to be strong for me.

Eventually we heard rustling coming towards us, I shot my head up to see Sam and Jake returning to the sight. "Did you find him?" I said standing up and walking over to them, "we didn't see him...but we were too scared to go any further." Sam said looking down. I bit my lip as it shook. "He's gone." I whimpered, causing Sam to hug me tightly. "Hes gonna come back.." he said but it didn't sound fully convincing. I saw his face shift to one of pure fear, "Colby!!" He yelled and turned towards the forest again, the others did the same for about 10 minutes.

"The best thing we can do it just wait...all of us getting lost is only going to make this worse." Jake said as we sat around the fire again. We sat silently trying to hear any sign of Colby. "You guys didn't hear that scream?" Sam eventually said. "It was right next to Jake and I.." he trailed off, "do you think the scream was Colby??" Corey said causing me to bite my lip. "No no it was too high pitched..it wasn't him" Sam said and Jake nodded in agreement.

After another 5 minutes of waiting we heard rustling in the woods, it sounded like someone walking. I snapped my head up to see Colby walking through the woods. I got up and ran as fast as I could to him. I jumped into his arms as he caught me, "why did you do that?!" I said as I sobbed and punched his chest. I was crying so hard there was no way the punches were hurting him. He just let me hit him, trying to pull me closer to him, "I'm so sorry" he kept repeating as he held the back of my head, forcing me to have my ear to his chest once I stopped hitting him. "You said you wouldn't leave my side" I cried out, the pain in my voice echoing through the trees. "I know...I'm sorry." He repeated until I eventually calmed down.

He got on his knees and held me close to him as the others came over, "I'm so sorry guys.." He sounded concerned as he brushed my hair down with his fingers.

"You're so dumb brother" Jake said with a sigh of relief. "I know..I stayed on the path the whole time I just ran further than I thought I did..I'm sorry." He said and put his chin on the top of my head, pulling me closer. I could feel his heart beating rapidly as he held my head to his chest.